Mar 24: Violinist Lisa Batiashvili Performs Prokofiev with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Katy Salomon | Morahan Arts and Media
katy@morahanartsandmedia.com | 863.660.2214

ORPHEUS CHAMBER ORCHESTRA PRESENTS
THE COURAGE TO CREATE AT CARNEGIE HALL
FEATURING VIOLINIST LISA BATIASHVILI, MARCH 24

Program Features Works by Schubert and Prokofiev

“fabulously agile, intense soloist” – The Guardian

New York, NY (February 20, 2018) — Orpheus Chamber Orchestra presents The Courage to Create on Saturday, March 24, 2018 at 7pm in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall, featuring internationally-acclaimed Georgian violinist Lisa Batiashvili in her Orpheus debut. Batiashvili is highlighted in Prokofiev’s elegant Second Violin Concerto, a work steeped in the crosscurrents between Russia and the West. The evening also includes the Entr’acte No. 1 to Schubert’s Rosamunde, Prokofiev’s Schubert Waltzes Suite arranged by Paul Chihara, and Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 in B Minor “Unfinished.”

The program will first be performed on Friday, March 23, 2018 at 8pm at The Performing Arts Center at Purchase College in Purchase, NY.

For the March 24 concert, Orpheus has partnered with Feeding America, in collaboration with the League of American Orchestras, to collect canned goods at donation points set up throughout Carnegie Hall. Audiences are encouraged to bring non-perishable goods to support this cause.

Program Information
The Courage to Create
Saturday, March 24, 2018 at 7pm
Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
Lisa Batiashvili, violin

SCHUBERT: Rosamunde Entr’acte No. 1
PROKOFIEV (ARR. PAUL CHIHARA): Schubert Waltzes Suite
SCHUBERT: Symphony No. 8 in B Minor D. 759, Unfinished    
PROKOFIEV: Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 63   

Ticket Information
Single tickets for the March 24 performance, priced from $12.50 to $115, are available for purchase at the Carnegie Hall box office at 57th and 7th, can be charged to major credit cards by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800, or by visiting the Carnegie Hall website at carnegiehall.org.

About Lisa Batiashvili
Lisa Batiashvili, Musical America’s 2015 Instrumentalist of the Year, is this season’s Artist-in-Residence with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Rome). Praised by audiences and fellow musicians for her virtuosity and “profound sensitivity” (Financial Times), the Georgian-born violinist, who has lived in Germany for over 25 years, has developed long-standing relationships with some of the world’s leading orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Berlin, Berliner Philharmoniker, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and London Symphony Orchestra.

Recording exclusively for Deutsche Grammophon, Lisa’s latest album, a recording of the Tchaikovsky and Sibelius violin concertos with Daniel Barenboim and Staatskapelle Berlin, received international critical acclaim. Earlier recordings include the Brahms Violin Concerto with Staatskapelle Dresden led by Christian Thielemann, and Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No.1 with Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks under the baton of Esa-Pekka Salonen. In 2016, EuroArts released a DVD of Lisa’s live Waldbühner performance of Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Berliner Philharmoniker led by Yannick Nezet-Seguin.

Lisa has been awarded two ECHO Klassik awards, the MIDEM Classical Award, the Choc de l'année, the Accademia Musicale Chigiana International Prize, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival's Leonard Bernstein Award and the Beethoven-Ring. Lisa lives in Munich and plays a Joseph Guarneri “del Gesu” from 1739 on loan from a private collector.

About Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra creates extraordinary musical experiences that enrich lives and empower individuals through collaboration, innovation, education, and a passion for artistic excellence. Orpheus strives to be the world’s premier chamber orchestra by performing music at the highest level without a conductor, challenging artistic boundaries, inspiring the public to think and work with new perspectives, and building a broad and active audience in New York City and around the world.

Committed to innovation and artistic excellence, Orpheus was founded in 1972 by a group of like-minded young musicians determined to combine the intimacy and warmth of a chamber ensemble with the richness of an orchestra. Orpheus performs without a conductor, rotating musical leadership roles for each work, and striving to perform diverse repertoire through collaboration and open dialogue. The ensemble has commissioned and premiered over 45 original works. Orpheus’s recordings include the Grammy Award-winning Shadow Dances: Stravinsky Miniatures for Deutsche Grammophon, and over 70 other recordings for DG, Sony Classical, EMI Classics, BMG/RCA Red Seal, Decca, and others, including its own label, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra Records.

Orpheus presents an annual concert series in New York City featuring performances at Carnegie Hall and the 92nd Street Y, as well as an intimate Twilight chamber series in the elegant instrument showroom at Tarisio Fine Instruments and Bows in midtown Manhattan. The orchestra also tours extensively to major national and international venues. The 2018-19 season features five new-to-Orpheus artists and Now Hear This!, a new initiative dedicated to reimagining musical gems of the past with new arrangements by top-notch composers. Beloved Japanese pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii opens the Carnegie Hall series with Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto. In November, Orpheus welcomes vibrant mandolin & accordion duo Avi Avital and Ksenija Sidorova, who will treat audiences to a reinvention of their time-honored instruments in a novel rearrangement of Bach. Spanish pianist Javier Perianes joins Orpheus for Mozart’s last Piano Concerto No. 27. Orpheus’ American Notesinitiative welcomes Golden Globe®, GRAMMY®, and Emmy®-nominated composer Benjamin Wallfisch and New York favorite James Matheson for two new works commissioned by Orpheus. British cellist Steven Isserlis opens the new 92Y series to explore the thrilling emotions of C.P.E. Bach's Concerto in A Major. The season ends with a flourish: Richard Strauss’ rendering of a fabled trickster, played in a lively arrangement for chamber ensemble. Iranian harpsichord virtuoso Mahan Esfahani juggles tradition and disruption in a chamber symphony reworking of Mozart’s Quintet for Piano and Winds (K. 452) by Jean Françaix.

About Orpheus Chamber Orchestra Educational Initiatives
Orpheus has trademarked its signature mode of operation, the Orpheus Process®, an original method that places democracy at the center of artistic execution. It has been the focus of studies at Harvard University and of leadership seminars at IBM, Morgan Stanley, and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital, among others. Orpheus aims to bring this unique approach to students of all ages through its worldwide education and engagement programs: Access Orpheus-NYC, Orpheus Music Academy, and Orpheus Leadership Institute.

Access Orpheus-NYC shares the orchestra’s collaborative music-making process with K-12 public school students from all five boroughs in New York City. While New York is among the cultural capitals of the world, many schoolchildren are underserved in arts participation. Access Orpheus-NYC helps to bridge this gap with in-class visits, invitations to working rehearsals, Instrument Discovery Days, public masterclasses, and free tickets for performances at Carnegie Hall.

The Orpheus Music Academy encompasses Orpheus’ programs for intermediate and advanced music students. Orpheus musicians share their artistry, expertise, and collaborative approach to music-making through masterclasses with Orpheus musicians and guest artists, side-by-side workshops, and residencies on tour.

The Orpheus Leadership Institute brings the Orpheus Process® to the private and nonprofit sectors and educational institutions to empower the leaders of tomorrowthrough collaborative management training. Teams of all kinds participate in customizable programs to gain insight from Orpheus’ democratic process and develop essential skills in communication, collective ownership, and creative problem solving.

For more information about Orpheus please visit www.OrpheusNYC.org or call 212.896.1700.

Howard Gilman Foundation is the Lead Sponsor of Orpheus’ 2017-18 series at Carnegie Hall. 
This concert is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts; the New York State Council of the Arts with support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; an the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

*Photo Credit: Sammy Hart

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